(Press-News.org) Raimon Guitart, lecturer in Toxicology at the UAB, and Vernon Thomas, emeritus professor of the University of Guelph, analysed in detail the environmental effects of using lead ammunition in shooting sports, in an article published in the AMBIO journal. Although the number of Olympic athletes specialising in these sports is reduced, and the ammunition is recovered and recycled after the competitions, there are many amateurs who practice this sport around the world, making it almost impossible to recover the ammunition after being used.
Researchers show that for these athletes practicing represents using approximately one thousand cartridges per person every week, with a yearly dispersal of 1.3 tonnes of lead. This metal represents a risk of contamination for the land and could poison animals, especially birds, since they confuse the ammunition with small stones and swallow them.
Although an alternative, non-toxic sports ammunition manufactured with steel has been available for ten years now, the International Olympic Committee leaves the regulations on ammunition to the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF), which only accepts lead ammunition in official competitions. That causes countries such as Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands, in which lead ammunition is prohibited, to have to make exceptions in the training and competitions of their athletes.
The research points out that depending on the terrain, lead can dissolve and spread in subterranean waters, and later be absorbed by the vegetation. Cases have been described in which farming land was contaminated by lead originating from shooting sports in the Czech Republic, where the lead passed to cereal crops; in Finland, where blueberry fields were reported to be contaminated, and in New Zealand.
In addition to the lead, the research highlights that ammunition manufactured with this metal contains arsenic and antimony, two toxic metals which seep into the ground when the ammunition degrades and which also contributes to increasing the environmental risks of this sport.
According to the authors, the problem of using lead as ammunition could be solved before 2020, with new regulatory measures and by gradually replacing this toxic ammunition with steel.
INFORMATION: END
Experts demand lead ammunition be replaced by steel in shooting sports
2014-04-01
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Carbon nanotubes grow in combustion flames
2014-04-01
Nagoya, Japan – Professor Stephan Irle of the Institute of Transformative Bio-Molecules (WPI-ITbM) at Nagoya University and co-workers at Kyoto University, Oak Ridge National Lab (ORNL), and Chinese research institutions have revealed through theoretical simulations that the molecular mechanism of carbon nanotube (CNT) growth and hydrocarbon combustion actually share many similarities. In studies using acetylene molecules (ethyne; C2H2, a molecule containing a triple bond between two carbon atoms) as feedstock, the ethynyl radical (C2H), a highly reactive molecular intermediate ...
Early intervention reduces aggressive behavior in adulthood
2014-04-01
An educational intervention program for children between kindergarten and 10th grade, known as Fast Track, reduces aggressive behavior later in life, according to research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
The research, led by psychological scientist Justin Carré of Nipissing University in Ontario, Canada, indicates that dampened testosterone levels in response to social threats may account for the intervention's success in reducing aggression.
The Fast Track intervention program teaches children social cognitive ...
Team finds a better way to grow motor neurons from stem cells
2014-04-01
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Researchers report they can generate human motor neurons from stem cells much more quickly and efficiently than previous methods allowed. The finding, described in Nature Communications, will aid efforts to model human motor neuron development, and to understand and treat spinal cord injuries and motor neuron diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
The new method involves adding critical signaling molecules to precursor cells a few days earlier than previous methods specified. This increases the proportion of healthy motor neurons derived ...
Science: Switching brain cells with less light
2014-04-01
This news release is available in German. Networked nerve cells are the control center of organisms. In a nematode, 300 nerve cells are sufficient to initiate complex behavior. To understand the properties of the networks, re-searchers switch cells on and off with light and observe the resulting behavior of the organism. In the Science journal, sci-entists now present a protein that facilitates the control of nerve cells by light. It might be used as a basis of studies of diseases of the nervous system. DOI: 10.1126/science.1249375
To switch a nerve cell with light, ...
Gratitude, not 'gimme,' makes for more satisfaction, Baylor University study finds
2014-04-01
People who are materialistic are more likely to be depressed and unsatisfied, in part because they find it harder to be grateful for what they have, according to a study by Baylor researchers.
The study — "Why are materialists less happy? The role of gratitude and need satisfaction in the relationship between materialism and life satisfaction" — appears in the journal Personality and Individual Differences.
"Gratitude is a positive mood. It's about other people," said study lead author Jo-Ann Tsang, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology and neuroscience in Baylor's ...
Clinical trial results inconsistently reported among journals, government website
2014-04-01
PORTLAND, Ore. — Medical researchers often presented the findings of their clinical trials in a different way on a federal government website than they did in the medical journals where their studies were ultimately published, according to an Oregon Health & Science University analysis published April 1 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Researchers' reports in peer-reviewed medical journals often were more favorable to the drug or intervention being studied than the reports on the government website — ClinicalTrials.gov — which required data for specific categories, ...
Sobering update on Jamaica's largest vertebrate
2014-04-01
In 1990, the Jamaican iguana was removed from the list of extinct species when a small population was re-discovered on the island. Unfortunately, the species continues to be critically endangered, with only a single location left for the recovering population, now greater than 200 individuals, in a protected area called the Hellshire Hills, part of the Portland Bight Protected Area. A recent proposal by Jamaican government officials to allow extensive development in this area is causing concern among conservationists who have been working to save this species and the wealth ...
Baylor professsor's study reveals strength training can decrease heart risks in children
2014-04-01
WACO, Texas (March 31, 2014) – Early strengthening activities can lead to a decrease in cardiometabolic health risks in children and adolescents, according to results of a new study by a Baylor University professor and a team of researchers.
Until recently, treatment for adolescent obesity and associated health problems has focused mostly on diet modifications and aerobic exercise such as walking or swimming.
But a recent research study appearing this month in Pediatrics by Paul M. Gordon, Ph.D., professor and chair of health, human performance and recreation department ...
Male-dominated societies are not more violent, study says
2014-04-01
Conventional wisdom and scientific arguments have claimed that societies with more men than women, such as China, will become more violent, but a University of California, Davis, study has found that a male-biased sex ratio does not lead to more crime.
Rates of rape, sexual assault and homicide are actually lower in societies with more men than women, the study found. And, evolutionary theories predicting that when males outnumber females, males will compete vigorously for the limited number of mates don't bear out. The study, "Too many men: the violence problem?" is ...
Scientific evidence shows need to regulate antimicrobial ingredients in consumer products
2014-04-01
Does the widespread and still proliferating use of antimicrobial household products cause more harm than good to consumers and the environment? Evidence compiled in a new feature article published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology by Arizona State University professor Rolf Halden shows that decades of widespread use of antimicrobials has left consumers with no measurable benefits.
Worse yet, lax regulation has caused widespread contamination of the environment, wildlife and human populations with compounds that appear more toxic than safe, according to ...